Are you as concerned about plastics as I am?

For those of us who live with chronic pain, life is complicated. It’s a difficult situation to explain to others when everything you do takes longer, hurts when you do as you try to put on a happy face in the midst of it all. We have to think about the exercises which will help our condition; the food we eat which will help and not hurt as well as trying to keep our meds straight and informing ourselves about the possible side effects of all of the above. It’s all so confusing to say nothing of overwhelming. Now let’s add something else to the mix…plastics. I know, I can hear you groaning. I feel that way, too, but it can’t be ignored. Remember all those years when doctors recommended certain brands of cigarettes on TV? Remember all those sugar substitutes that were supposed to be harmless? Well, my friends this subject is as important as those.

For years, I’ve been reading about the possible side effects and toxins involved with the use of plastics in our lives, particularly when it comes to eating and drinking from plastic bottles and cooking in plastic containers. Studies over the last two years have reportedly reached some conclusions about what the plastics release into our food. Many potentially harmful plastics are being replaced by safer ones as people become more aware. Some countries and certain states have passed legislation to protect children, particularly, from this danger.

There are four potentially problem plastics. The first is BPA, Bisphenol A, which is identified by a number 7 inside the small triangular recycle mark on the bottom of the container. It is a chemical that produced 7 billion pounds per year worldwide. It’s found in food and beverage containers as well as dental sealants. Most alarmingly, it is found in baby bottles as well the lining of many canned foods as well as eating utensils. BPA is a hormone disrupter, mimicking the effects of estrogen and disrupting the body’s normal hormonal activity. There have been numerous studies performed and the results are that over 90 percent of us have BPA in our urine. It can cause cardiovascular disease, diabetes, memory loss and early development or early onset puberty in children; such as young girls developing breasts as early as 7 years of age. They may also cause breast and prostate cancers as well as reduced sperm counts. It’s everywhere but fortunately getting less so as awareness grows. One researcher, Frederick vom Sall, Ph.D., a professor of reproductive biology at the University of Missouri-Columbia has been researching BPA’s effects for 30 years. He’s convinced they are a health hazard for all, especially children and the unborn. He states, “In adults, high levels affect behavior and the immune system, but babies are ruined for life.” That’s why certain companies, such as Evenflo and Gerber are now offering better plastic bottles for infants made from a safe #5 and #2 polyethylene.

As plastics are used, especially with food acids and heating with or without oils and sugars present, the chemical are leached out to the food. You can spot this by seeing the breakdown of the plastic, taste it in some bottled water but also, not necessarily know it’s there. You can check for BPA lining your canned goods by checking out your most commonly used canned foods after you open them and if there’s a plastic liner, try another brand. When possible, it’s suggested we should cook with frozen or fresh foods.

Another bad plastic is polystyrene, which is labeled #6. It is used in foam containers, cups and some clear take-out containers as well as utensils such as plastic cutlery. It leaches out styrene which can be a carcinogen. The other bad plastics are adipates and phthalates labeled as #3 plastics inside that triangle mark. PVC wrap is used by markets to wrap food and to make it pliable the manufacturers use these two additives, adipates and phthalates to give it flexibility. They can leach out into your food, especially if the food is heated or fried. They can cause harm to all systems in the human body. They have also been connected to birth defects.

Before you get too discouraged, let’s take a quick look at what we can do, as consumers. The first thing we can do is to inform ourselves about which plastics are dangerous and which are not. Avoid those which have #3, #6 or #7 in the triangle on the bottom. #5 is questionable when heated. It’s a good idea to stop cooking in any plastics. We can use glass or ceramic to cook in the microwave. We can dump our food which comes in plastic containers into other containers, wrap them with waxed paper or store them in glass. We especially need to avoid cooking in plastics that show signs of wear, food which is high in oil or sugar or bottles which have been used previously. If a bottle of water has become heated in your car, it is suggested that you toss it out. Even food wrappings are suspect.

One of the scientists at the Good Housekeeping institute spoke about buying cheese then bringing it home, removing the plastic wrap, trimming off the areas that were touched by the wrap and repacking it. I think so many of us started using plastics with the advent of the microwave oven and stopped using other wraps such as wax paper and foil. Switch to glass bottles or aluminum or stainless steel whenever possible. Don’t wash and reuse most plastics because the heat of the dishwasher and the detergent break them down. If a plastic isn’t labeled, avoid it. If a dish says microwave safe, that only means it won’t melt, not that it is safe for you. Plastics are a huge industry and we need to guard our own lives and families while the truly informative information is dragged out of them.

Since it’s difficult to avoid goods wrapped in plastic, try to re-wrap it when you get home to cut down on the time it is wrapped, to avoid leaching into your foods or, better yet, try to buy foods that you can request to be wrapped in paper by the butcher. It’s okay to freeze foods in polypropylene and polyethylene, just don’t cook in them. This is according to Frederick vom Saal, Ph.D. I was very pleased recently to discover Green Toys. They are toys made from recycled milk cartons. The company received the Parenting magazine award this year. I just bought my granddaughter some of their children’s dishes for Christmas. We can’t escape this issue for our sakes and our children.

This is a big subject for one blog. If you are interested, try to read the following.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sue Falkner-Wood

Sue Falkner-Wood is a retired registered nurse living in Astoria, Ore., with her husband, who is also an R.N. Sue left nursing in 1990 due to chronic pain and other symptoms related to what was eventually...read more

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